A fortnight.

Funny word, innit? Fortnight? I'll have to look up the history of that one. Two weeks. That's it folks. Well, unless our little girl isn't ready to see us. I know, I really need a haircut...I'm pretty scary lookin' these days. I'll even shave my face if it'll help move the process along. BITO is ready for this. She's asking for it. We're both really excited to see how things "shake out".

Speaking of shaking out, our kitchen remodel is nearly done! Evidence below:
Some trim work, paint, backsplash, artwork, and some kitchen accessories are in our future. We may end up staining the countertop before we seal it. We have some scraps on which we can do tests.

We have our second-to-last baby appointment today. We'll update with any new info!

4 weeks and counting...

The countdown has recently shifted from "how far along" to "how much longer." It's a nice change, except when BK took me by surprise by describing to a friend that we're "8 months pregnant." I had forgotten that we were 8 months pregnant. I only knew there were a few more weeks to go.

The house keeps coming along. BK had a small freak-out about the state of the baby's room (it's put together, just not organized) but he satisfied himself by snapping together the stroller. I think he needed a break from the large-scale kitchen project, and the 4-minute stroller assembly worked perfectly. Completion, on any scale, can be rejuvenating.

The kitchen is looking fabulous. Aside from countertop and the installation of the gas cooktop, one side is done. BK and my dad put in almost all the cabinets on that side last weekend. BK's brothers are visiting this weekend and I'm guessing the other side of the kitchen will gradually materialize over the next couple days, including the installation of the new sink.

My goal is to organize the nursey, which mostly needs the three million onesies sorted by size and put away in drawers (or totes, for the 12-month sizes). I also plan to spend as much time on the sofa as possible without annoying the kitchen worker bees. My right foot and ankle are swollen due to the hot and sticky weather and the Braxton Hicks contractions just keep on comin'. On the upside, I don't have any back pain, and the baby continues to amuse me with her in-utero antics. Life is good.

Baby room...check.

I don't have photographic evidence, but the baby's room is D-U-N done! Flooring, rug, trim, walls, etc. We were going to also replace the ugly fan/light combo on the ceiling, but it works fine at this point. There will be at least one lamp in the room as well. Glider rocker is installed and looking comfy. The wimmings assembled the HUGE convertible crib, and that looks super as well.
This would be our fetus at the 30-week ultrasound. This latest shot shows the down-turned mouth of BITO's ancestors. The baby's right hand is over her face, and there's some other goo in the way of a clear shot of her eyes and nose. Tricky little thing. But such a cutie.

We're 2/3's of the way done with the birthing classes. Daddy Boot Camp was a success as well. I got to change a diaper (just a wet one), so that was cool. It was nice to be able to speak frankly with new dads about their experiences. Teachers can be only so open and honest. The real deal was very satisfying.

Clock is ticking. Kitchen remodel is forging ahead at a stately pace. The bamboo flooring is installed, and now we must get the walls filled, primed, textured and painted prior to getting any cabinets up. Oh, and yours truly didn't order enough cabinet legs...so there's another setback. *sigh*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG SISTER BEANS!

Back 2 School

BITO and I are gearing up for our first day of class tomorrow. I'm expecting this "birthing school" to be highly entertaining. I know I'll have to take it seriously and listen intently, but in the end I know I'll forget the most important things. Then I'll just have to improvise. I wasn't very good at improv when I played string bass in grade school, so we'll see how this goes.

No, it's not lamas class. Well, it might be. But I guess it's much more than that. I think we'll learn how to handle the wee one in several situations. We'll learn how the whole breastfeeding thing works, and what not to eat. We'll probably learn about things that commonly scare parents of newborns, and other things we haven't thought about already.

Daycare is in the works. We found a reasonably-priced place in the neighborhood. Pick up and drop off should be easy, and the facility looks pretty nice. Smells like diapers, but whattaya gonna do? They have an outdoor play area that's pretty trick...and a "big wheels" course for the older kids. We still don't know if we can afford it, but it's the best we can do in the area. It will be interesting to see the things we'll have to give up to afford it. I know it will be worth it, but which things will make it through the sieve? Luckily, my bike is paid off! Oh, I'm such a prick.

Give me your food. Now.

Feels like all I do these days is eat and eat. I have developed a bad habit of staring at whatever anybody else is eating, even if I'm not hungry, and even if I'm completely satisfied with the food on my own plate. I also have a new-found penchant for Hershey's Kisses. They're so perfect! Little morsels of sweetness. I steal them out of candy bowls and beg them off co-workers and then hoard them at my desk.

Big daddy is right; I do look plenty pregnant these days. I feel pretty good about my new and changing shape. It helps that I feel good, though my back is starting to ache partway through the day. Any downside is pretty much negated when I feel the little girl kick. She's big enough that I can see her punch at my stomach. It's hard to catch if you're not staring and waiting for it, so I propped a book across my tummy and B could see the book tip back and forth as baby practiced her karate.

T minus 17 weeks, and counting.

Or is it 16 weeks? Either way, this meteor is coming, and we're not ready!

Well, we made steps in the ready direction this weekend. We took the queen bed out of the guest room and wrestled it down the interstate to Mary's place. The guest room is to become my office-slash-futon room. My current office thus becomes the wee babe room.

Oh, but there's more fun ahead. This move means paint, carpet, window treatments, and a bucket of other necessary room improvements. I'm actually looking forward to having a slightly larger office, with a choice of two windows for my viewing pleasure.

Mama is looking quite preggers these days, and thankfully in good spirits and pain-free.

GIRL POWER!

The new Daddy is officially outnumbered! At our 20-week ultrasound yesterday, we found out we're having a baby girl! We are very, very excited! We'll send pictures to friends and family soon. Everything in the ultrasound looked good, and it was performed mostly by a technician, and then a perinatologist physician came in and scanned around a little bit, too. Knowing it's a girl puts a new, glorious spin on this adventure...

Tap, tap, tap...

Breaking news...I can feel the baby move! It isn't much, and it doesn't feel like the "bubbles" or "butterflies" that other moms describe. Our baby communicates with very clear taps, just one or two at a time. I imagine the little babe stuck inside a fish bowl, reaching out and tap, tap, tapping...and whispering "hello?" in a little baby whisper. If I'm cognizant enough, I give a little tap back.

In other news...we are looking forward to the next ultrasound, in about 10 days, when we will try to find out if we are having a he or a she...the weather still stinks (snowing on top of ice at the moment)...I'm almost over this bad cold and making bets with myself about how long it takes BK to succumb...and we're looking forward to family time: BK's family arriving next weekend, and hopefully we'll trek to Minneapolis the following weekend to spend time with some of my family, including our new nephew Theo! Can't wait!

My-oh-my-ami

This February has been brutal. Being raised in northern Minnesota, this is a relatively difficult statement to utter. I don't remember a February this cruel and cold...but I'm not out of my 20's, so there's time to break records yet.

Hence, our trip to Miami! We're lucky enough to have family there, so the expense of a place to stay was basically non-existent. And our hosts were wonderful! Thanks to M&A for everything.

The seafood is wonderful, and the cigars are fresh and tasty. I tried my hand at some Mackerel and Dolphin fishing (no, not "Flipper" dolphins), but all I caught was a lousy sunburn. Interestingly, coming off the plane in sub-zero Chicago was enough to completely erase all traces of skin burnage. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

We got to hear our little bun again on Valentine's Day. Heartrate is slower now than before, which I suppose is normal as the fetus grows. It's about 16cm long now, which still seems small, but then I consider the 5 months remaining...EXCITEMENT!

There is a bun, there is!

Thank you to the father of my child for starting a blog! Hopefully we'll keep it up, and he'll show me how to get pictures on here, and we'll start spreading the word of our new public image.

As he said, we's a-pregnant! Sweet jeebus, it feels like forever that we've been talking about this endeavor. It's a still a little surreal that it's actually happening, but each day brings reality a little more in focus. We are absolutely ecstatic about having a child and being parents, and we hope we can follow some of the great examples that have been set for us by friends and family (all the bad examples we equally hope to ignore).

Speaking of friends and family, thank you so much, everyone, for all the support you've shown us over the last few months. We feel so loved!

New blahg. Noice

So, yeah. We're having a baby and we wanted to have a nice little spot to keep people updated with pics and stories.

I have long considered blogging not an act of individualism, but more an attempt at trying to convince one's self that what they say and do is important enough to publish in "public". So I never thought to create a blog until recently...and with the wife wanting to get involved with baby updates to family and friends, it seemed like a good, easy option over a full-blown CMS that just about any non-webby can update.

Being a webby, I cringe at templated design, web fluff, and bandwidth abuse. But hey, everyone's doing it, so why don't we?

Peace.